Group 4, Time to Shine!
On Thursday it was finally time for my group to teach the direct instruction lesson to the fourth grade! The time came up so fast but we spent so much time creating our lesson and practicing, that we were confident with our material. Space technology was the topic that we were teaching to the fourth grade students, and they seemed really excited to learn about it. Throughout our lesson they were participating and answering all of the questions; however, the students were getting a little too excited and started to get loud at some points. They were especially getting loud during our jeopardy game for the guided practice. The jeopardy game was an online game and a great use of technology. It is completely adaptable to any subject you are teaching and the amount of groups you wish to have. It can be used to assess your students while having fun! Start creating your jeopardy game for your class now! During the guided practice and the lesson would have been good times to implement the student vs. teachers game that we had set up for the students. We had used the game a couple times in the beginning and just left it as the lesson went on; unintentionally of course!
The students ended our direct instruction lesson by writing a letter to NASA about their favorite piece of technology and how they use it at NASA. The students wrote a lot about the Hubble Space Telescope and Robonaut. These topics were two things that they really enjoyed talking and learning about. Overall, I think that we had a successful direct instruction lesson and the students learned a lot.
Tuesday, we taught our inquiry lesson. We were very excited about this lesson and had put a lot of time and effort into planning it. The students got to use and act as some of the pieces of technology that they learned about on Thursday to help Buzz Light-year figure out what planet he was on. We made a planet (which was Neptune) out of playdoh and the students had to view the planet from a telescope on earth, then as the Hubble telescope, and finally explore it as a rover to help discover it. They were also given clues throughout their exploration about the planets so they had a reference of all of the characteristics of the planets.
Again, the students were very excited about this lesson and they were getting slightly noisy again. It would have been good to use our students vs. teachers game more.
In the end, the students were able to figure out that it was Neptune that Buzz was stuck on and they sent a message to Star Command so they could save Buzz.
Overall, I felt this lesson was successful as well. Particularly when the students got to act as the rovers and could touch the planet to feel that it was cold (we put the planets in the freezer over night) and they were actually able to discover and use even more of their sense. This part of the lesson was exciting for me as their teacher to watch. They really lit up when they felt the cold, could count the moons, and so on.
The experience of teaching this fourth grade class was definitely a learning one. I learned that you always have to enforce your classroom rules, organization is key, and the importance of time management. It was great to get practice speaking and working in front of a class before I student teach. I am sure that a lot of other students at other schools do not get this opportunity before student teaching.
Now, it is time to rest up from working on these lesson plans and get ready for the rest of the science methods course!
The students ended our direct instruction lesson by writing a letter to NASA about their favorite piece of technology and how they use it at NASA. The students wrote a lot about the Hubble Space Telescope and Robonaut. These topics were two things that they really enjoyed talking and learning about. Overall, I think that we had a successful direct instruction lesson and the students learned a lot.
Tuesday, we taught our inquiry lesson. We were very excited about this lesson and had put a lot of time and effort into planning it. The students got to use and act as some of the pieces of technology that they learned about on Thursday to help Buzz Light-year figure out what planet he was on. We made a planet (which was Neptune) out of playdoh and the students had to view the planet from a telescope on earth, then as the Hubble telescope, and finally explore it as a rover to help discover it. They were also given clues throughout their exploration about the planets so they had a reference of all of the characteristics of the planets.
Again, the students were very excited about this lesson and they were getting slightly noisy again. It would have been good to use our students vs. teachers game more.
In the end, the students were able to figure out that it was Neptune that Buzz was stuck on and they sent a message to Star Command so they could save Buzz.
Overall, I felt this lesson was successful as well. Particularly when the students got to act as the rovers and could touch the planet to feel that it was cold (we put the planets in the freezer over night) and they were actually able to discover and use even more of their sense. This part of the lesson was exciting for me as their teacher to watch. They really lit up when they felt the cold, could count the moons, and so on.
The experience of teaching this fourth grade class was definitely a learning one. I learned that you always have to enforce your classroom rules, organization is key, and the importance of time management. It was great to get practice speaking and working in front of a class before I student teach. I am sure that a lot of other students at other schools do not get this opportunity before student teaching.
Now, it is time to rest up from working on these lesson plans and get ready for the rest of the science methods course!
Nessiah,
ReplyDeleteI had so much fun creating lessons with you for our fourth graders. It was an unforgettable experience, and I feel we worked well together, and we were all very motivated. We managed our time very well and I enjoyed even the nights that we were working very late. We made the best of it!